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Tyrone’s top ten legal aid law firms revealed

THE identities of Tyrone’s top earning law firms who were paid almost £4 million from the public purse in a single year have been revealed.

Ten solicitors firms based in the county appear on the Northern Ireland Legal Services Commission’s list of 100 solicitors practices and barristers who received the highest legal aid payments in the 2010/11 financial year.

Only one practice in Tyrone appears in the top ten, Omagh firm Patrick Fahy Solicitors, which was paid £970,515 between April 1 2010 and March 31 last year, the second highest paid firm in the North outside Belfast.

Strabane practice John Fahy and Co, which was paid £790,257, was the second highest in the county, followed by fellow Strabane firm Oliver Roche (£400,758) and McCaffrey and Co of Omagh (£338,184).

In Dungannon, Mallon and Mallon at £301,495, received the most legal aid funds of any East Tyrone based practice, followed by Doris and MacMahon of Cookstown (£246,227).

H2O, the legal firm representing the families of the Omagh bomb victims also appears on the list. The London practice which is undergoing a three way split, was paid £384,635 in 2010/11.